


(You Left Me) In the Dark

by 64packofcrayons



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLADDY HERE'S SOME ANGST, a) i haven't written in forever, and b) it's this guy's birthday so forgive me, but I haven't finished it yet..., gladnoct if you squint, me putting out work for two reasons, so basically the whole game, spoilers up to chapter 14
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 05:11:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10529622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/64packofcrayons/pseuds/64packofcrayons
Summary: He knows they see the change in him – after all, his reason for living had been stripped away, the sole purpose for his existence gone.  Could he have stopped it?  No.Would he have tried anyways?Hell yes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said in the tags, I'm a little rusty but I'm trying sooo hard to break out of this writer's block. So please forgive me if anything is a little off, but I really wanted to put out something for Gladio's birthday, because LBR he deserves it. So here ya go big guy, have some ANGST.

He wakes up in the dark, and finds that nothing has changed.

It is still pitch black and Gladio can’t help but sigh, the monotony of ebony days starting to irk him.

 _Is this what you see all the time_ , _Ignis?_

The thought of the bespectacled man has him thinking wistfully of days at the campsite, sitting around the fire like they used to, the smell of burning wood, coffee and sweat from a hard day of work lingering in the air. No one camps anymore, not even the bravest of hunters. After Noctis disappeared, the runes did too. All havens that were not illuminated by fluorescents had been overrun by demons.

It makes his gut twist to think of the camping equipment stuffed haphazardly in the corner of Cid’s garage.  
Hammerhead and Lestallum are the only safe places left, not even the lighthouse that Iris and Talcott loved so dearly.

After Gladio, Ignis and Prompto had returned from the Empire without the Crown Prince, they had slowly started to fall apart, from the inside out, and their group was more or less disbanded. After all, Noct was the glue that held them together. What else did they have in common besides the dark haired, sulky prince?

Prompto took it hardest.

The first few times Gladio said he wanted to hunt on his own, his thin lips pursed, but he had let him go (“Need to blow off some steam, Big Guy?”).

After Gladio’s fifth solo hunt, he had corned him in Takka’s Pit Stop, hollering about _loyalty_ and _I thought we were friends!_

“Why don’t you want us by your side anymore? I don’t…I thought... we're _brothers_ , Gladio…” The kid’s scrawny shoulders had been shaking, giving evidence to the tears that were about to spill over. “Cor 'n Cid said we’re _brothers_.”

Gladio’s gaze remained trained on the leather cuff Prompto never took off, the one that he knew hid the unique barcode that the marksman had been branded with when he was a child. “We were,” he rumbled.

Prompto’s wet azure eyes snapped up to him in shock and horror; even Ignis, who had been quietly listening (as was his usual manner) let out a huff of surprise at the past tense.

_We were brothers._

 

* * *

 

 

He knows it’s not Noct’s fault; deep, deep down he knows it is no one’s fault but Ardyn’s.

But Gladio likes to think of every possible reason to make it Noct’s fault, just so he has something to blame for his world falling apart. _He knew of the crystal’s power. He had the blessings of the gods. He should have fought with us_.

 _He shouldn’t have left_.

What does a Shield do when there’s nothing to protect?

He wanders.

Gladio travels back and forth between Lestallum and Hammerhead, taking on any job that he can. Fighting always cleared his head, made it easier to breathe when it was all _too much_.

Iris hates it, and insists that he just stay in Lestallum with her and Talcott, brave little Talcott whose wide brown eyes have seen too much for a boy his age.

“Ah, I can’t do that, sis,” Gladio grins, ruffling her cropped black hair. “Besides, you know I of all people enjoy a challenge.” He drains the last of his drink, and stands. “I should hit the road.”

Before he reaches the door of her apartment, she murmurs, “I miss him too, Gladdy. We’re all hurting. But you’re too proud to admit it.”

He squeezes the doorknob until his knuckles go white.

She stands, stretches and Gladio looks over his shoulder at her. “Well, that settles it, I suppose.”

“Settles what?”

“I’m coming with you.”

Gladio spins around so quickly he gives himself whiplash. “Like Hell you are!” he thunders, and Iris doesn’t even flinch at his harsh tone, just picks up her favourite Moogle-print bag and starts throwing clothes and other curatives into it.

“Sorry, Gladdy, but in case you haven’t noticed, you’re not my father. You’re my brother. And you’re not the paragon of role models either, so while your concern is appreciated, it’s also not necessary.”

Gladio is slightly taken aback at her strict, matter of fact tone, but nevertheless, allows her to load her things into his car, and once they have Talcott settled in the backseat with his Cactuar figures and a juicebox, they drive.

It wouldn’t have been an easy trip back, but it was even more challenging when you have two insistent road trip partners who can’t fight off daemons. They eventually make it back to the bright lights of Hammerhead in one piece, not withstanding a new scar on Galdio’s arm and a few scrapes on Iris’s pale elbows.

Iris learns just as well as Gladio did (albeit at a much earlier age) that strength does not come easily. But she is an Amicitia, born to protect and serve, and Gladio has no doubt that if Noct had had a sister, she would have been her Shield too.

Gladiolus enlists the help of Cor Leonis to train her, to become the warrior that Iris claims she wants to be.

Iris empties the contents of her stomach onto the side of the road two hours into her first training session. He’s seen grown men twice her size and five times her strength last half an hour, and Gladio can’t help but swell with pride.

 

* * *

 

 

He never gets used to the dark. After living in a world of light for twenty-three odd years, you never get used to eternal night, the screeches and moans of daemons – who were once people, victims of an experiment gone wrong, according to Prompto.

He doesn’t want to think about what they did to his friend before they rescued him, what horrors he was forced to endure.  

When Gladio returned from Lestallum with Iris and Talcott in tow, Prompto and Ignis had met them at the garage.

The marksman and the Shield had stared at each other for a moment before Prompto took three long strides forward and threw his arms around the bodyguard’s massive frame. “Missed you, Big Guy.”

He laid a large hand on the kid’s head, ruffled the spiky blonde hair. “Missed you too, kid.”

 

* * *

 

 

Change was coming.

Anticipation crackled in the air, he could feel it, smell it, _taste_ it no matter where he went. When jobs took him from Galdin Quay to Cape Caem, the feeling nagged at him, pulling on his sleeve.

Gladio watches Iris grow muscular, tall and strong under Cor Leonis’ guidance. He sees Ignis learn the world again but this time with just his fingertips – he swears it makes the gears in the tactician’s head run even faster than before. Even Prompto, the one who hated change the most, accepts their current state of affairs, knowing he cannot completely change it, but instead tries to make it a little bit better every day.

He knows they see the change in him – after all, his reason for living has been stripped away, the sole purpose for his existence gone. Could he have stopped it? No.

Would he have tried anyways?

 _Hell yes_.

But as it is, brute strength alone cannot change the past. So he lets the river of time carry him where it will.

And as the years go by, Gladio gains more scars. Every scratch, every scrape, every close call is just another reminder of who he fights for and why he fights for him.

Noct is gone. For now. And Gladiolus, the Shield, has nothing to protect.

But when Noct comes back, and he _will_ , Gladio will pick up his sword and his shield and stand at his king’s side.

It is the only thing he knows how to do.

 


End file.
